S6204 Samuel Templeman
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Southern Campaigns American Revolution Pension Statements & Rosters Pension application of Samuel Templeman S6204 f37VA Transcribed by Will Graves 11/18/11: rev'd 11/17/17 [Methodology: Spelling, punctuation and/or grammar have been corrected in some instances for ease of reading and to facilitate searches of the database. Where the meaning is not compromised by adhering to the spelling, punctuation or grammar, no change has been made. Corrections or additional notes have been inserted within brackets or footnotes. Blanks appearing in the transcripts reflect blanks in the original. A bracketed question mark indicates that the word or words preceding it represent(s) a guess by me. The word 'illegible' or 'indecipherable' appearing in brackets indicates that at the time I made the transcription, I was unable to decipher the word or phrase in question. Only materials pertinent to the military service of the veteran and to contemporary events have been transcribed. Affidavits that provide additional information on these events are included and genealogical information is abstracted, while standard, 'boilerplate' affidavits and attestations related solely to the application, and later nineteenth and twentieth century research requests for information have been omitted. I use speech recognition software to make all my transcriptions. Such software misinterprets my southern accent with unfortunate regularity and my poor proofreading skills fail to catch all misinterpretations. Also, dates or numbers which the software treats as numerals rather than words are not corrected: for example, the software transcribes "the eighth of June one thousand eighty six" as "the 8th of June 1786." Please call material errors or omissions to my attention.] [p 4] State of Virginia, Westmoreland County – to wit} On this 28th day of January in the year 1833, personally appeared in open Court, before the Justices of the Court of the County aforesaid then in Session, the Rev'd Samuel Templeman, a resident of the said County, aged seventy five years, who being first duly sworn according to law, doth on his oath make the following Declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the Act of Congress, of the 7th day of June 1832. That he served two years as a Lieutenant in the State Troops of Virginia during the War of the Revolution, and that he was afterwards appointed by Colonel John A Washington (Brother of the General) Adjutant to the militia of Westmoreland County, in which capacity he served to the end of the war: That the circumstances under which he entered the Army & his subsequent services therein are as follows: That at the commencement of the rupture between Great Britain & the then Colonies, he resided with his uncle at the Great Bridge in Norfolk County, who was engaged in the Mercantile pursuit. That on the return of Colonel John Wilson of that place from the meeting at the first Committee of Safety, of which he was a member, at Williamsburg, he received from Colonel Wilson the Commission of Lieutenant in a minute Company, to which William Grimes was Captain. That this Company was immediately formed and was employed forthwith in active service to protect the Country from the depredations of the Tories & outlying Slaves, up to the month of December 1775; at which time the said Company was stationed at the Great Bridge to aid in resisting the movement on that post of the British Captain Fordyce [Charles Fordyce], with a considerable force of British Troops, aided by Tories & refugee Slaves. That the Troops first assembled at the Great Bridge to defend the place, consisted of a Company from North Carolina commanded by Captain William Goodman – the company commanded by Captain Grimes, in which I was Lieutenant; a detachment of minute men under the command of Major Ruffin from the lower part of Virginia, That this force was employed in fortifying their position, up to the 7th of December 1775, at or about which time the 2nd Virginia Regiment commanded by Colonel Woodford [William Woodford] – and a Battalion of minute men from Culpeper and Fauquier Counties, commanded by Major Marshall (father of the Chief Justice) [Thomas Marshall] arrived – That two days after the arrival of this force the battle of the great bridge occurred [December 9, 1775],1 in which he the said Templeman was – The result of the battle was, the death of Fordyce, who fell within a few yards of our Breastwork, the entire route [rout] of the British force, with a considerable loss on their side, in killed, wounded & prisoners. The night after the battle the British evacuated their forts & retired to Norfolk, & myself with Captain Goodman were the first who entered the Fort on the ensuing morning. Two days after the battle Colonel Woodford with the 2nd 1 https://www.myrevolutionarywar.com/battles/751209-great-bridge.html Regiment Major Marshall with the Culpeper Brigade, and Colonel Howe [Robert Howe] with his Regiment from North Carolina which had joined us after the battle, moved down to Norfolk; the remainder of our force continued at the Bridge under the command of Major Ruffin, who assigned to me the duty of Adjutant. Our service while stationed at the Bridge was to scour & to protect the country down the Branch leading from the Bridge by Gosport, Portsmouth, to Tucker's Point, opposite to Norfolk – During this service we had frequent skirmishes with the enemy, near Portsmouth & their Fort. After the burning of Norfolk, Dunmore evacuated the Fort, and with all his Ships, Troops, Tories & Slaves, took post up the Bay on Gwin's Island [Gwynn Island], below the mouth of Piankitank River [Piankatank River], opposite the County of Glocister [Gloucester] – thence he carried on the most harassing predatory warfare in the Potomac River & other adjacent rivers, & on the whole margin of the Chesapeake. Soon after the burning of Norfolk2 – Colonel Howe with his Regiment returned to North Carolina. Colonel Woodford with the 2nd Regiment & Major Marshall with the Culpeper Brigade of Minute men were ordered to Williamsburg. The portion of the force to which I was attached remained to guard & protect the circumjaunt County from the predatory incursions of the enemy. In this service I continued till late in the year 1777, when the men of the Company in which I served as Lieutenant were discharged. I then returned to my native County, Westmoreland, having been in active service from the time I received my Commission of Lieutenant in or about the month of July or August 1775, till the month of October or November 1777, making a period of more than two years. Immediately upon my return to Westmoreland, I was, as before stated, appointed Adjutant to the Militia of that County, the duties of which station I performed till the close of the War; and though it is now impossible for me, without the aid of muster rolls, or other records of dates, to state the precise periods when the militia of that County were called out en masse to protect the inhabitants from the incessant apprehension of predatory incursions of the enemy from their ships stationed in the River Potomac of which the County of Westmoreland lies in its whole extent, yet I declare that the actual service which I thus rendered at different periods from the year 1777 to the close of the war amounted to one year. I therefore claim to have served two years as a Lieutenant in the military service of the State of Virginia in the war of the Revolution, and one year in the militia as Adjutant, according to the above statement, for which service I claim such Pension as it may be judged proper to allow me under the above recited Act of Congress. Though I served with many of our most valuable officers who if living could testify to my service, they as well as a long list of contemporary private soldiers & respectable citizens of Norfolk County & elsewhere are dead. I know of no one now living who could prove my service, and the nature of the service affords me no record evidence of it. All the evidence which it is in my power to procure to prove my service is herewith exhibited. I hereby relinquish every claim whatever to a Pension, or annuity, except the present; and I declare that my name is not on 3 the Pension Roll of the Agency of any State. In answer to the Interrogatories put to me by the 2 Governor Dunmore burned most of Norfolk on January 1, 1776 in retaliation for the defeat at Great Bridge, and the next day the Whigs burned what remained in order to deny the British use of Norfolk as a port. 3 The War Department promulgated regulations governing pension application format and requiring the following 7 interrogatories to be put to each applicant for a pension: 1st Where and in what year were you born? 2nd Have you any record of your age and if so where is it? 3rd Where were you living when called into service: where have you lived since the Revolutionary War and where do you now live? 4th How were you called into service; were you drafted; did you volunteer or were you a substitute, and if a substitute, for whom? 5th State the names of some of the regular officers who were with the troops where you served, such Continental and militia regiments as you can recollect and the general circumstances of your service. 6th Did you ever receive a discharge from the service, and if so, by whom was it given and what has become of it? Court; I say that, I was born in the County of Westmoreland in the year 1758; and though I have no official register of my birth, I have ascertained to my entire satisfaction that I am seventy-five years old.